Leopard 1A1
}} The West German Leopard 1A1 is the first NATO main battle tank players will be introduced to when entering the single player campaign. The Leopard 1A1 can also be found in the Start NATO Deck. The Leopard 1A1 allows to unlock it's variants: the Leopard 1A2, Leopard 1A3, Leopard 1A4, and Leopard 1A5. The Leopard (or Leopard 1) is a main battle tank designed and produced in West Germany that first entered service in 1965. Developed in an era when HEAT warheads were thought to make conventional heavy armour of limited value, the Leopard focused on firepower in the form of the German-built version of the British L7 105-mm gun, and improved cross-country performance that was unmatched by other designs of the era. In Wargame: Red Dragon, Leopard 1A1 is rerolled to Armored Recon as PzAuft Leopard 1A1. History Leopard 1 The Leopard 1 design started as a collaborative project between Germany and France in the 1950s, but the partnership ended and the final design was ordered by the Bundeswehr, production starting in 1965. In total 6,485 Leopard tanks have been built, of which 4,744 were battle tanks and 1741 were utility and anti-aircraft variants, not including eighty prototypes and pre-series vehicles. The Leopard quickly became a standard of European forces, and eventually served as the main battle tank in over a dozen countries worldwide. Since 1990, the Leopard 1 has gradually been relegated to secondary roles in most armies. In the German Army, the Leopard 1 MBTs have been phased out in 2003 while Leopard 1 derived vehicles are still widely used. The Leopard 2 MBTs have taken over the MBT role. Leopard hulls have been re-used in a wide variety of roles. Leopard 1A1 After the first batch was delivered the next three batches were the Leopard 1A1 model, which included a new gun stabilization system from Cadillac-Gage, allowing the tank to fire effectively on the move. The 1A1 also added the now-famous "skirts" along the sides to protect the upper tracks, and a new thermal jacket on the gun barrel to control heating. A less important change was to use rectangular rubber blocks fastened to the treads with a single pin instead of the earlier two-pin "shaped" versions. The rubber blocks could be easily replaced with metal X-shaped crampons for movement on ice and snow in the winter. Between 1974 and 1977 all of the machines in the first four batches were brought to the same Leopard 1A1A1 standard, and given additional turret armor developed by Blohm & Voss. A further upgrade in the 1980s added leftover image-intensifier night sights which were being handed down from the Leopard 2 as they were themselves upgraded. The PZB 200 image intensification system was mounted in a large box on the upper right of the gun, creating the Leopard 1A1A2. A further upgrade with SEM80/90 all-digital radios created the Leopard 1A1A3. Weapons ''European Escalation'' Red Dragon Gallery L1a1stats.jpg|Leopard 1A1 in the WAB armory See Also * *Leopard 2 - Successor Category:Main Battle Tanks Category:European Escalation tanks Category:AirLand Battle tanks Category:Red Dragon West Germany arsenal Category:Red Dragon tanks Category:Armored Recon